Though our great shift towards computer-based work has done great things for productivity, it has, unfortunately, done terrible things for our health including increased risks for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

In 2012, I decided I was moving to Scotland. My employers were very supportive and encouraged me to work from home. I was conscious that staying home all day might not be the healthiest. I thought that this might be my chance to experiment in ways to stay healthy.

There were lots of ideas out there on how to make work less static – from the clever (like a WorkRave) to the eccentric (like a Treadputer – similar idea also covered by the NYT). There were lots of novel ideas but I needed something effective and achievable. I couldn’t be distracted or out of breath on calls. One idea kept recurring; standing.

It doesn’t matter if you go running every morning, or you’re a regular at the gym. If you spend most of the rest of the day sitting – in your car, your office chair, on your sofa at home – you are putting yourself at increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and an early death. In other words, irrespective of whether you exercise vigorously, sitting for long periods is bad for you.

Indeed, if you consider only healthy people who exercise regularly, those who sit the most during the rest of the day have larger waists and worse profiles of blood pressure and blood sugar than those who sit less. Among people who sit in front of the television for more than three hours each day, those who exercise are as fat as those who don’t: sitting a lot appears to offset some of the benefits of jogging a lot.

A standing desk is basically any desk where you can work while standing. Typically the monitor, keyboard, and mouse are elevated to match the ergonomic position required to operate while standing. Moving to a standing desk can sound like an odd/extreme change along with being a big commitment to do all day. I’ve worked in lots of fields (construction, retail, entertainments) where one of the ‘perks’ of an office job is the permission to sit!

My new found sedentary lifestyle, where my commute involved walking in slippers from my bedroom to my ‘office’ would quickly see me become lethargic and unhealthy. In this case, perhaps an extreme solution might be needed. A lot of reading seemed to support a range of health and productivity benefits. I was sold.

For a standing desk all you really need is a surface at standing height. I set about my own ‘IKEA hack’. As it is fairly easy to assemble as any IKEA table, I was fairly confident I wouldn’t have to live with some wonky Frankendesk.

The Desk

My chosen standing desk was a repurposed IKEA kitchen utility table. It offered me a wide desk with lots of space for writing, files and my laptop. It was also a particularly low risk option. The four adjustable chrome legs I chose could actually be dropped back down to a ‘normal’ desk height if I really found that it wasn’t working for me. A smaller second shelf also propped up an external monitor.

What you’ll Need:

Vika Amon Table Top (cant find on IKEA.co.uk but they do have the Gerton

You’ll also need a drill and a screwdriver for putting the brackets and table legs in place.

The instructions that come with the legs and brackets will get you through the entire process, as long as you understand that the small shelf goes on top of the large one. I positioned the desk itself to a level whereby I could lean my elbows on the desk.

The Chair

Obviously, the idea of a standing desk is to… stand. Almost everything I read about standing said it was good for you. There was a convincing counter argument though, anything for prolonged periods isn’t healthy. As I was new to the idea I hedged a little. I went for an IKEA Franklin 29″ bar chair to sit down when my legs got tired. This was used heavily early on or later when I felt I really needed to sit down for concentration.

The Routine

Like many things, switching to a standing desk is a habit change, and changing habits is something you have to work at. Not having a sitting desk available pushed me forward, but it wasn’t about willpower alone. To really make the switch, you need to start small and practice every day—The 28-Day Stand Up and Work Challenge helped me make the transition gradually, starting with just a 12 minutes of standing on day one. They progressively added more time each day, working up to an hour after the first week, and by the end of the challenge, you’re standing for half a day. The other option I looked at but didn’t try was Stand or Die. I found myself shifting from leg to leg and moving around often, as standing still is a pretty difficult task.

Changes

Over time, I’ve made a few changes to my work environment. Moving the desk around in the room to find the ‘best’ bearings etc. I added a small box to prop up my laptop. Not exactly high tech, but it was exactly the right height and depth. Later, I moved to having a wireless headset, this allowed me to walk around the room while on calls, sync my mobile via Bluetooth and listen to uninterrupted pod-casts. I liked the new wire free me, so I added a wireless keyboard and mouse. Not strictly necessary, but a nice addition and tided up my work-space. I also added a rug. Aside from helping me to protect the carpet, it also softened the ground under foot.

HP Deskjet 3070a – used mostly for scanning, this could do with an update to a laser printer with a top loader.

The result

Powered by Cincopa Video Hosting. I’m happy with my inexpensive and adjustable height standing desk. This is a particularly good/cheap standing desk for those interested but not yet ready to commit. Its solid and a good long term option.

In terms of health, I don’t have much by way of my own comparable scientific data. Taking into account my lifestyle change as a homeworker, I’d have taken no weight change. Yes, I’ve lost weight since but I’ve also taken up regular exercise. I have noticed a marked difference in my posture and core strength. At first, standing is a bit uncomfortable, with lower back pain, but your body adjusts accordingly to accommodate the new habit.

Recently, the BBC and the University of Chester conducted a simple experiment with a small group of volunteers that showed that standing on weekdays burns calories like running 10 marathons a year. Even if it is only partially true, it sounds good to me.

My parents and many of their generation who didn’t get the advantages of higher education, see it as immensely important and would point to the credibility it offers. Does that mean they necessarily agree with me and my ‘educated outlook’ on the issues I studied? Does it heck. I probably don’t value my education as much as other people do. So does that mean that higher education is too big to fail? (more…)

Those who know me, will be aware of my interest in reading about management and leadership. Theory or course must be backed up by practice. Today though, my post is about a humorous theory that could well be a ‘real world’ issue.

In his first book “The Peter Principle, Why Things Always Go Wrong” (1969) Laurence J. Peter revealed his discovery of a rather amusing principle. The Peter Principle is the premise is that in management hierarchies, people, through their careers, continue to advance until they have been promoted one layer above their level of capability. They are promoted to their level of incompetence, where they stay until they retire. The follow up in 1972 offers a range of prescriptions to the principle.

For a long time I’ve labelled myself a ‘generalist’. However, in the modern world of employment the term generalist certainly doesn’t mean “he’s doing two jobs and gets paid double.” In reality, now it seems the word generalist means “good at nothing and unemployed.”

The product of a liberal arts education, I focused on Political and History (I knew that I’d found my undergraduate zen where my politics classes covered subjects from a time after my history classes). When graduating I was acutely aware that I was going to be neither a historian or a politician. So what to do? (more…)

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About Kris

Kris is a confident and concise communicator. He offers a strong technical mind-set and have a genuine interest in using technology to solve problems.

A graduate of National University of Ireland, University College Cork (UCC), he holds qualifications in Business, Change Management and a specialism in Information Systems / Management Accounting. Kris has worked most recently for a leading public sector IS Software House where he developed his skills, interest and experience in project leadership, social media and enterprise content management platforms.

Its OK though, he doesn't normally talk in the third person, so don't worry about making contact.